FINAL BILL REPORT
SHB 2394
FULL VETO
Brief Description: Revising master planned resorts.
Sponsors: By House Committee on Government Operations (originally sponsored by Representatives Reams, Buck, Sheldon, Honeyford, Delvin, Thompson and McMahan).
House Committee on Government Operations
Senate Committee on Government Operations
Background: Enactment of the Growth Management Act (GMA) in 1990 and 1991 established a partnership between the state and local governments to manage growth in a comprehensive manner. Various planning requirements and goals to guide county and city actions are established by statute in the GMA. Each county planning under all GMA requirements must designate urban growth areas within which urban growth shall be encouraged and outside of which growth may occur only if it is non-urban in nature. As part of its urban growth area designations, a county may authorize new fully contained communities to be located outside of what the county designates as urban growth areas.
Under certain circumstances, counties planning under the GMA may permit master planned resorts, which may constitute growth outside of urban growth areas. A master planned resort is defined as a self-contained and fully integrated planned unit development in a setting of significant natural amenities, with primary focus on destination resort facilities. Such facilities are to consist of short-term visitor accommodations associated with a range of developed on-site indoor or outdoor recreational facilities. A master planned resort may include other residential uses within its boundaries but only if the residential uses are integrated into and support the on-site recreational nature of the resort.
Summary: The definition of a master planned resort is broadened under the Growth Management Act so that a master planned resort must merely include destination resort facilities rather than the destination resort being its primary focus.
Votes on Final Passage:
House 96 0
Senate 46 1